Vintner's Journal

Many people find it of interest that I, a young lad of 39, own vineyards and a winery and with the exception of once or twice a week for a few hours, and a couple of really intense times a year, I basically live a retired lifestyle. I am often asked what I did before getting in the biz. I rarely give the whole story and usually just say I was in high tech. The listener smiles and nods with understanding -- mine would not be the first success story they heard from the second California gold rush -- but actually the listener doesn’t really understand. Remember the 47 cents worth of stock options?

Suffice it to say that we were able to pursue this dream by making money another old fashioned way... we inherited it.

Both Sasha and I love wine, but arrived at that love independently. Sasha’s dad, the late Dr. Robert K. Match had imparted to her an appreciation of fine wine, especially red Bordeaux. Those who purchase our 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon will see that we’ve dedicated our inaugural vintage to this great man and wine enthusiast. I, on the other hand, first learned to appreciate wine while working as a waiter in college. The restaurant was upscale with a respectable wine list (for New Mexico) and I remember first falling in love with the 1982 Chateau Haut-Brion. I now know that the 1982 wasn’t “ready to drink” but hey, it tasted mighty good then and I can’t wait to try another bottle whenever certain online wine forumites finally announce that it is ready.

But how did we go from wine lovers to winegrowers? My flip, quotable, answer is that the traffic up to Tahoe is too bad. Many of our friends head up to places in Tahoe each weekend. That’s a drive that can take anywhere from 3 hours to 8 depending on the weather and traffic. Not our cup of tea especially when one considers that Sasha doesn’t even ski and in fact considers cold weather a real pain in the wine-a-maker. Therefore, our search for a place in the country -- a place in the easy driving distance wine country -- began in earnest in early 2000

We checked out both Napa and Sonoma. Our goal started out simple enough: a house with a pool in the wine country. As we looked, we realized we really wanted a house with a pool and a view. Then the land requirements starting rising. We wanted a bit of property, don’t you know. Then I heard of something called a “gentleman’s vineyard” which means –- the best I can tell –- a vineyard that’s just big enough to be trouble and cost money, but not big enough that it could ever make money. During June 2000 we attended the Napa Valley Wine Auction, the charity event where people pay insane amounts of money for wine. During our off-time, we had a list of available properties. Parked below the future Butterdragon Hill, it didn’t look like much. The vineyard wasn’t there. It was just an 11 acre property with an empty, but ripped, field of dirt and we could just spy a plain small house at the top of the hill. We were on the phone with our realtor who, when hearing our disinterest in this property, encouraged us to drive up the hill and take a look. “You’ll change your mind,” she assured us. And indeed we did. We bought the place based on that view and contingent on the completion of the planned 7 acre Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. The final vine was planted in our little piece of Napa Valley heaven 5 days after we closed escrow. Our journey into the “romance” of Napa Valley winemaking had begun.